Deb Olin Unferth presents at the 2013 Creative Capital Artist Retreat

"Revolution" book trailer

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Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the War tells the story of Unferth, at eighteen, running away from college with her boyfriend and attempting to join the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua. The year is 1987, a turning point in the Cold War. In a comic twist on both the traditional war narrative and the coming-of-age memoir, the couple find themselves unwanted, unhelpful, unprepared and, finally, disillusioned—with the revolution and each other. Advance praise comes from Dave Eggers, who says, “You’ll devour it,” Heidi Julavits, who calls Unferth “one of the most ambitious and inspirational writers working today,” and Kirkus Reviews: “Unferth writes with a sly, understated appreciation for the absurd.” A follow-up to Revolution, the graphic novel Natural Citizens, deals with similar themes of the youthful search for meaning.

Project Updates

2012: Revolution is a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in autobiography